The histopathological features after living related orthotopic liver transplantation were evaluated in 64 liver biopsy specimens. Forty-six patients underwent living related orthotopic liver transplantations between January 1991 and July 1997. Twenty-four of these patients underwent at least one posttransplant liver biopsy. Primary diseases were the following: congenital bilialy atresia (12 patients), fulminant hepatitis (5), primary bilialy cirrhosis (3), neonatal hepatitis, primary sclerosing cholangitis, hepatoblastoma, and liver cirrhosis (one patient each). Pathological diagnoses were acute rejection (38 biopsies), chronic rejection (3), vascular complication (3), bile flow imparment (14), recurrence (3), functional cholestasis (13), neutrophilic infiltrates (10), fatty liver (9), Others (9). Acute rejection combined with Other pathological diagnoses in a single specimen was observed in 24 (63%) of the 38 biopsies with acute rejection. It is important to interpret the outcome based on both clinical featurs and pathological findings after living related orthotopic liver transplantation.
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